Catching Fire  New Ending
by Ao kishi
Summary: Katniss has a chance at a life previously denied to her by the adults that munipulated her. Peeta dose NOT get captured by the Capitol. Enjoy...


**Catching Fire Ch. 27(Rewrite)**

**My advice is to reread The Hunger Games and Catching fire and stop at chapter 21 and then read this**

**I do not claiming any ownership of the names, places, things, or main story idea of this rewrite.**

Everything seems to erupt at once. The earth explodes into showers of dirt and plant matter.

Trees burst into flames. Even the sky fills with brightly colored blossoms of light. I can't think why the sky's being bombed until I realize the Gamemakers hovercrafts are being shot out of the sky like fireworks high above, while the real destruction occurs on the ground. Just in case it's not enough fun watching the obliteration of the arena and the remaining tributes. Or perhaps to reduce the witnesses to our gory ends.

Will they let anyone survive? Will there be a Victor of the Seventy-Fifth Hunger Games? Maybe not. After all, what is this Quarter Quell but … what was it President Snow read from the card?

_"… a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol…"_

Not even the strongest of the strong will triumph. Perhaps they never intended to have a victor in these Games at all. Or perhaps my final act of rebellion forced their hand.

_I'm sorry, Peeta,_ I think. _I'm sorry I couldn't Save you._ Save him? More likely I stole his last chance at life, condemned him, by destroying the force field. Maybe, if we had all played by the rules, they might have let him live. Tears wet and cold blur my vision, giving the world around me a more hostile appearance.

I can't feel my fingers or the ground so why can I feel my heart? What pain could be greater than dying? I close my eyes the one part of my body I can move. My mind shaky from numbness.

"Katnass wake up!" I open my eyes and flood instantly with relief. The sight of Petta crouching over me. Tears in his eyes. I look at him, covered in dirt and bleeding above his right eye. We stay looking into each-others eyes. He lifts my head up onto his lap "stay with me, Katniss" he pleads. The pain returns to my chest _"I can't do that"_ looking into his eyes hoping he can understand and know I have to die for him to have even a chance at life. Or do I? I already know there can't be a victor. But what choice do I have? Only to hope he'll be forgiven and left to live his life.

The hovercraft materialized above us without warning. Petta's lips move. But I cant hear him. I see it all happen and i'm useless to stop it. If it was quiet, and a mockingjay perched close at hand, I would have heard the jungle go silent and then the bird's call that precedes the appearance of the Capitol's aircraft. But my ears Could never make out anything so far out of my reach.

A net drops down from the underside until it's directly overhead. The metal rope ensnares us along with Beetee. I want to scream, run, smash our way out of it but I'm frozen, helpless to do anything but watch and fervently hope we'll die before we reach the shadowy figures awaiting us above. They have not spared our lives to crown us all victors but to make our deaths slow and public as possible.

My worst fears are confirmed when the face that greets us inside the hovercraft belongs to Plutarch Heavensbee, Head Gamemaker. What a mess I have made of his beautiful Games with the clever ticking clock and the field of victors. He will suffer for his failure, probably lose his life, but not before he sees us punished. Maybe he'll hurt Peeta or my family Prim, Gale anyone he thinks will truly make me suffer as he will surly. The net drops us onto the metal floor I watch as Peeta tries to defend my paralyzed body. But he yelps and falls to the ground unmoving and gone. I can't take the pain any longer. My eyes wide and tearing I see black spots overshadow my vision and then I can't see. My vision sentencing me to the vulnerability of darkness. They can do anything to me now and I will not even see it coming.

My hearts pounding so rapidly the blood begins to stream from beneath my soaked moss bandage. My thoughts grow foggy. Possibly I can bleed to death before they can revive me for torture. In my mind, I whisper a thank-you to Johanna Mason for the excellent wound she inflicted as I black out.

_"Always."_

I remember. I was under the influence of sleep syrup. My heel had been injured after I'd climbed out on a branch over the electric fence. Peeta had put me to bed and I had asked him to stay with me as I was drifting off. He had whispered something I couldn't quite catch. But some part of my brain had trapped his single word of reply and let it swim up through my mind.

_"Always."_

I'm swimming in a world of sleep and semi consciousness. I can't feel my body. Hearing only whispers in a darkened world. Hearing my name, and other words as I walk. This darkness goes on for an eternity no where to go or hide. I start at the sound of my name and look for the source. I hear a voice. This familiar voice full of sunlight. Its light flowing down, illuminating the surroundings. Bringing life to the darkness of my world.

Why is he here in my head in my lonely sanctuary? Is it to torture me with his death? I failed him again. Unable to keep him alive as I promised I would. I listen. His words raining down on me "Katniss please wake up, please don't leave me here without you." He starts sobbing and is unable to continue. _He's crying_ I think to myself. Why would he need me to come back? Aren't I the one who needs him to return? I look away from the sunlight. And suddenly I find myself standing in the woods of District 12.

The familiar woods give off a glow faint and calm. I think of all the time iv'e spent here, of fun and hardships had here in these woods. Then i'm thinking of Gale, his smirk his arrogance and even his lips. _What dose Gale mean to me?_ I wonder. He's my hunting partner for starters. Always having my back, keeping our families fed. But what dose he really mean to me I love Gale and I know no-one could ever take his place. But I do know I don't have the same feelings about Gale's kisses as I do when it's Peeta's. "Has she moved at all?" I look up again realizing I did hear his voice I'd know it anywhere. It was Gale's voice. "No" says Peeta in a matter-of-fact tone "she won't wake up for me, it's you she loves" says Peeta his voice harsh and dry. "yeah she dose love me" replies Gale sad but full of conviction. "But she loves you a lot more" he stops and the woods hum with the noise of wild things.

I sit on a spot full of dandelions. Thinking over what I heard, none of it made any sense. Why is Gale here too? Did he also get punished for my defiance against the Capitol? What about Prim did she too suffer because of me? "Is she awake?" _Prim._ At the sound of her voice my world shutters driving myself closer to madness _"why is Prim here too?"_ I yell into the empty sky _"Just let me die"_ I fall to the floor hitting it, hating it for keeping me here. I feel like a snared rabbit. Again i'm trapped to hear the voices of those I care about most.

"No" its quick and to the point, but full of sadness not anger it's Peeta's voice again. I stop hitting the floor long enough to listen. Sobbing quietly into madness. "you should get some sleep i'll watch her for a little while" she assures him. "it's not that I don't want sleep it's that I cant sleep" he replies.

"She really dose love you, she practically told me herself" Prim's voice soft and so sure of her words. My sobbing gone at least for the moment. I'm always thinking she's grown up so fast this past year. No longer a little girl, my little duck. "really? What did she say?" Peeta's voice not betraying his curiosity or sadness. "She … she told me what it feels like when you kiss her, she said you tasted like cinnamon" she says quickly "she dose love you, she just doesn't know it yet."

"I love you Katniss" are all I hear as the sound of Peeta and Prim fade into the sound of the mockingjay's. I lay on the cold hard ground I'm not asleep, I'm not even dead. Then where am I? Time feels unchanging the sun never sets only moving from one side of my sky to the next in a slow rhythmic beat of a heart. Not my heart but one iv'e heard a thousand times, it's Peeta's heart.

I close my eyes. The smells and sound of the forest are soothing. It reminds me of my father. His strong arms that kept me safe here in these woods and his voice of command and kindness, every bird in the forest would stop just to hear his words. Peeta too has that similar gift to stop a crowd with his words kind and loving.

I do love Peeta, his voice his kindness the boy with the bread who reminds me so much of a dandelion soft and kind. I'm not afraid of loving someone I'm afraid of loosing them, him, Peeta. It was the same fear of losing my father and then mother, abandoned by those I love. As we slowly starved to death. Swearing off marriage and children, so they wouldn't have to suffer like iv'e suffered. Or having to suffer with losing them too.

Gale comes to the forefront of my mind strong and caring, a fire kindled with hate and rage against the Capitol. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow sun that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that. So after a long while I whisper back into the sky _"I love you too Peeta"_

I open my eyes. I can feel I'm lying on a bed. There's the pinching sensation of tubes in my left arm. I'm still largely unable to move, Open my eyelids and raise my head. I have no motor coordination, no proof that I even still have fingers. The tubes twitch in my skin and again I fade into darkness.

When I finally, truly, wake up, I raise my hands and find I can move again. I push myself to a sitting position and hold on to the padded table until the room settles into focus. My left arm is bandaged but the tubes dangle off stands by the bed.

I'm alone, I think until I see Beetee, who has about ten different machines hooked up to him. Where are the others I've heard and those I haven't? Petta, Prim, Gale, Finnick, and…and…one more, right? Either Johanna or Chaff or Brutus was still alive when the bombs began. Maybe it was all a dream and the Capitol has taken them. Moved them from hospital to prison?

"Peeta…" I whisper. I so wanted to protect him. Am still resolved to. Was it all a dream? I saw Peeta fall motionless. Maybe he really is gone. Tears fall down my face. I hold back the sobs that are so trying to free themselves. I have to stay strong, for Peeta. I wipe away the tears as I slide my legs off the table and look around. There are few doors. But one near Beetee's bed Is open to a hallway. Perfect. All I'll need is a clear shot at an escape.

I pause for a moment, consider killing Beetee. But if I do, the monitors will start beeping and I'll be caught before I can get far enough away. I bite my bottom lip to keep me from tearing again, and make my silent escape.

I'm naked except for a thin nightgown, so I slip through the hall quietly. There are no guards in the halls. No doubt I'm miles beneath the Training Center or in some Capitol stronghold, and the possibility of my escape is becoming more nonexistent.

I creep down a narrow hallway to a metal door that stands slightly ajar. Someone is behind it. Flattening myself against the wall, I listen to the voices inside.

"Communications are down in Seven, Ten. And no more communication with Twelve. But Eleven has control of transportation now, so there's at least a hope of them getting some food out."

Plutarch Heavensbee. I think. Although iv'e only really spoken with him once. A hoarse voice asks a question.

"No, I'm sorry. There's no way I can get you to Four. But Iv'e given special orders for her retrieval if possible. It's the best I can do, Finnick."

Finnick. My mind struggles to make sense of the conversation, of the fact that it's taking place between Plurarch Hevensbee Peeta's murderer and Finnick. Is he so near and dear to the Capitol that he'll be excused his crimes? Or did he really have no idea what Beetee intended? He croaks out something else. Something heavy with despair.

"Don't be stupid. That's the worst thing you could do. Get her killed for sure. As long as your alive, they'll keep her alive for bait, " Says Haymitch.

Says Haymitch! I bang through the door and stumble into the room. Haymitch, Plutarch, and a very beat-up Finnick sit around a table laid with a meal no one is eating. One dim light hanging from the ceiling to illuminate the room.

"Done Sleeping, sweetheart?" says Haymitch, the annoyance clear in his voice. But as I careen forward he steps up and catches my wrists, steadying me. "Trying for your miraculous getaway from the Capitol? See, this is why no one lets you make the plans." I stare at him uncomprehendingly. He settles me in a chair next to Finnick.

Plutarch puts a bowl of broth in front of me. A roll. Slips a spoon into my hand. "Eat," he says in a much kinder voice than Haymitch used. I stare at him with hate and loathing. _"I should take this spoon and scoop out his eyes"_ I think unforgivingly.

Haymitch sits directly in front of me. "Katniss, I'm going to explain what happened. I don't want you to ask any question until i'm through. Do you understand?"

I nod numbly. Not moving my eyes off Plutarch. And this is what he tells me.

There was a plan to break us out of the arena from the moment the Quell was announced. The victor tributes from 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 11 had varying degrees of knowledge about it. Plutarch Heavensbee has been, for several years, part of an undercover group aiming to overthrow the Capitol. He made sure the wire was among the weapons. Beetee was in charge of blowing a hole in the force field. The bread we received in the arena was code for the time of the rescue. the district where the bread originated indicated the day. Three. The number of rolls the hour. Twenty-four. The hovercraft that saved them belongs to District 13. Bonnie and Twill, the women I met in the woods from 8, were right about it's existence and it's defense capabilities. We are currently on a floor deep beneath the surface of District 13. Meanwhile, most of the Districts in Panem are in full-scale rebellion.

Haymitch stops to see if I am following. Or maybe he is done for the moment.

It's an awful lot to take in, this elaborate plan in which I was a piece, just as I was meant to be a piece in the Hunger Games. Used without consent, without knowledge. At least in the Hunger Games, I knew I was being played with.

My supposed friends have been a lot more secretive. I look at Haymitch.

"You didn't tell me." My voice is as ragged as Finnick's.

"Neither you nor Peeta were told. We couldn't risk it," says Plutarch. "I was even worried you might mention my indiscretion with the watch during the Games." He pulls out his pocket watch and runs his thumb across the crystal, lighting up the mockingjay. "Of course, when I showed you this, I was merely tipping you off about the arena. As a mentor. I thought it might be a first step toward gaining your trust. I never dreamed you'd be a tribute again."

"I Still don't understand why Peeta and I weren't let in on the plan," I say. The thought that Peeta might not be dead hanging to my chest.

"Because once the force field blew, you'd be the first ones they'd try to capture, and the less you knew, the better," says Haymitch.

"The first ones" Why?" I say, trying to hand on to the train of thought.

"For the same reason the rest of us agreed to die to keep you alive," says Finnick.

"No, Johanna tried to kill me," I say.

"Johanna knocked you out to cut the tracker from your arm and lead Brutus and Enobaria away from you," says Haymitch.

"What?" My head aches so and I want them to stop talking in circles. "I don't know what you're-"

"We had to save you because you're the mockingjay, Katniss," says Plutarch. "While you live, the revolution lives."

The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay.

The one that survived despite the Capitol's plans. The symbol of the rebellion.

It's what I suspected in the woods when I found Bonnie and Twill escaping. Though I never really understood the magnitude. But then, I wasn't meant to understand. I think of Haymitch's sneering at my plans to flee District 12, start my own uprising, even the very notion that District 13 could exist. And if he could do that, behind his mask of sarcasm and drunkenness, so convincingly and for so long, what else is he keeping from me? I know what else.

"Prim." I whisper, my heart sinking. Their previous conversation stating having no communication with District 12.

"Your family is safe they're helping other wounded patients on a different floor," says Haymitch. "And even your cousins are here somewhere." His words are mater-of-fact, his expression unchanged, but he can't hide the tinge of gray that colors his face.

"What happened?" I hiss at him.

"After the Games, they sent in planes. Dropped firebombs" says Plutarch. And finally he drops his gaze.

I look at Haymitch eyes wide with fear "Katniss, there is no District 12" he says. I look at him his eyes full of pain until he too drops his gaze.

Technically, I'm not yet crying. But no one outside of District 12 could feel as broken and destroyed as I felt right now in this cold room.

Tears come in bucketfulls as I sob into my hands. Finnick puts his arms around me, and I know it's all he can do to comfort me.

After a while Finnick drops his hands as someone else's arms embrace me. I look up to see Peeta holding me. Tears in his eyes as I embrace him tighter. I cry into his shoulder as he strokes my hair. _"He didn't die"_ is all I can think before i'm swallowed up by the faces of District 12. This goes on for about five minuets non-stop. Then I pull myself up from Peeta's shirt. It's soaked entirely through.

"Katniss, Katniss, I'm so sorry I left your side." Peeta whispers struggling to keep his voice steady. I notice we're back in the medical room with Beetee. I look into his eyes full of hurt. Perhaps because we're in the same kind of pain. And then he says to me "my family didn't make it."

Peeta's father strong and kind, who despite having his son put up against me in the Hunger Games decided to bring me cookies. "All … all of them?" I ask knowing my pain right now could never compare to his. He just nods once slowly and final. I pull him into my nightgown only just realize how naked I am. Having only a thin layer of cloth separating Petta from my bare skin, But not caring I pull him tighter.

We lie there in the bed breaking into fits of sobbing every so often. Until we both are quiet and holding each other. I look up into his eyes to find his already looking into mine.

"Prim?" I ask.

"She's fine. So is your mother. I had gone to get them before you woke up," he says. "I'm sorry I left I was … " he continues. But stops when my fingers hold his lips. "I know, It's ok" I reassure him.

"They're safe here then?" I ask

"After the bombings, they found them and a lot of other survivors. It was Gale who got them out." The sound of Gale's name at least lets me know he's here, but I push aside thoughts of Gale. At least for the moment.

"Katniss, before you woke up you said something do you remember what it was?" Peeta asks. I look into his eyes the sorrow and loss at the moment replaced by desire.

I nod. Keeping my eyes locked on his "I said, I love you too Peeta." feelings of electricity run through my body. We close the gap and find each other. The taste of cinnamon on his lips.

Peeta pulls away taking in my face in with his eyes. "stay with me?"

I stare into his blue eyes, knowing it would have eventually come to this as I say "Always."

**END OF BOOK TWO (REWRITE)**

**I'm going to rewrite "Mockingjay" to "Mockingjay Another-day" and get back to you on the changes since Peeta didn't get captured it's going to be a really hard and long rewrite.**


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